Vehicle jack



June 12,1 951 T. CARE ETAL VEHICLE JACK Filed Sept. 16, 1949 yoW/m I IINVENTORS.

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Patented June 12,A 1951 el.. .r a

VEHICLE JACK Thomas Care and Frederick Sievern, McKeesport, Pa.

Application September 16, 1949, Serial No. 116,178

2 Claims.

Our invention relates to lift jacks for motor vehicles and the like, andmore particularly to the combination of a lifting jack and centeringramp therefor.

Our invention has for one of its objects the provision of a jack of thecharacter referred to that is provided with a centering ramp which canbe placed in front of or behind a vehicle Wheel, so that when a Wheel isrolled on to the device, the jack Will be centered accurately beneaththe Wheel axle or its housing, the jack being foldable onto thecentering ramp when it is not in use.

Another object of our invention is to provide a device of the characterreferred to wherein an improved means is provided for adjustably lockingthe jack at various adjusted positions with respect to the ramp.

In the accompanying drawing,` Figure 1 is a plan view of the device;Fig. 2 is a view taken on the line II-II of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an endview of the structure of Fig. 1 showing a vehicle Wheel thereon; Fig. 4is a sectional view of the slide plate taken on the line IV-IV of Fig.l, and Fig.

5 is a perspective view of the looking lever of Fig. 1, for holding theslide plate and jack at desired adjusted positions.

The centering device comprises a pair of ramps 'I and 8 preferably ofsheet metal and bent downwardly at 9 and Hl respectively, the bent-downends being welded to the fianges of a channelshaped base plate l I. Abearing plate 2 also is Welded to the base plate ll and its flanges, theplate 2 being provided with a hole 3 through which a jack handle 4 canbe inserted to operate a screw jack as hereinafter explained. Stiffeningplates |5 are welded to the longitudinal edges of the ramps 1-8 and tothe base I I.

The base H, being of channel form, serves as a support and guide for aslide plate 6 of generally channel form whose upstanding fianges have aseries of notches or recesses l'I for use in latching the slide 5 atvarious adjusted positions. Each of the fianges also has a notch 18 nearits outer end.

A jack 20 has its base 2! hingedly connected at 22 to the outer end ofthe slide IG, the base plate 2l of the jack having its bottom surfacefiush with the bottom plane of the base ll. The jack may be ofconventional formand operated in the usual manner by turning the handleI4 that can be inserted through the bearing plate |2 and into the jack,from a position at the outer side of a vehicle Wheel 23.

When it is desired 'to jack up a Vehicle to replace a fiat tire, or forany other purpose, the

jack will be adjusted to the desired position with respect to thecentering device and locked there by a latch lever 24 which has studs 25that extend into holes in the fianges 9-l0, to serve as pivot pins. Whenthe latch lever is raised to its vertical position, the slide member IGcan be adjusted to such positions that When a Wheel 23 is on thecentering device, the jack will be spaced therefrom such distance as toengage the axle or axle housing at a suitable point. The car owner will,of course, know the proper adjustment to suit his particular make ofcar. In order to latch the jack at its adjusted position, the handle 24will be swung downwardly to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, atwhich time spurs or looking lugs 26 thereon will enter a pair of notchesl'l. The ramps 1-8 Will then be placed in front of or behind the Wheel23 and the vehicle moved to bring the Wheel into position thereon asshown in Fig. 3. Thereupon, the jack handle |4 will be rotated toelevate the vehicle axle.

When the vehicle has been driven from the centering device, the jackhandle |4 Will be removed and the latch lever 24 raised to move the lugs26 from the notches I'I. The plate IG can then be slid into thecentering device and the handle 24 again lowered, to bring its lookinglugs 26 into the notches l8. Thereupon, the jack will be swung to thedash line position shown in Fg. 3, thus placing the apparatus in acompact condition for storing. VVhen the jack and its centering deviceare extended somewhat as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the lever 25 can beused as a carrying handle.

We claim as our invention:

1. A centering device comprising a pair of oppositely disposed rampshaving relatively spaced bent-down portions at their adjacent upperends, to serve as a Wheel seat, a base of channel form having its upperedges secured to said bent-down portions, a jack-supporting slide ofchannel form adjustable in the base channel, in directions transverse tothe ramps, the fianges of the slide having .notches in their upperedges, and a U-shaped latch lever having its legs pivotally Supported inthe base flanges and having looking lugs on the legs engageable withsaid notches, to hold the slide in its adjusted positions.

2. A centering device comprising a pair of oppositely disposed rampshaving relatively spaced bent-down portions at their adjacent upperends,

to serve as a Wheel seat, a base of channel form having its upper edgessecured to said bent-down portions, a jack-supporting slide of channelform adjustable in the base channel, in directionSI hold the slide inits adjusted positions, and means 5 on the outer end of the Slide forhingedly supporting a jack for foiding into the slide.

TI-IOMAS CARE. FREDERICK SIEVERN.

4 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,012,635 Paden Aug. 27, 19352,053,646 Whalen Sept. 8, 1936 2,254,149 Jensen Aug. 26, 1941

